Thinking about a possible Part 4 for the questionnaire - 

• (2009-03-04) I numbered the questions to refer to them in a concept map.
• (2009-03-06) Copied Jenny's table from her public blog post here and numbered the statements.

Part 4 could be entirely separate from the first parts or could be a continuation. My rational for this part is to go beyond collecting simple quantitative data and to begin to explore people’s communication and learning experiences on the CCK08 course, focussing on the differences between those who preferred blogging to discussion forums and vice versa.

 

So key research question is?

Why did some CCK08 participants choose to blog rather than post to the Moodle forums and vice versa?

 

Sub questions might be?[J1]

Did these two groups of people have identifiable group specific common characteristics?

What are the advantages and disadvantages of blogs and discussion forums for self-directed learning?

 

I have remembered Soini and Flynn’s article in which they identify 6 aspects of critical learning instances (see notes)

 

Emotional significance (62%)

Reflection (53%)

Differing perspectives (42%)

Collaboration (38%)

Autonomy (33%)

Dialogue (24%)

 

It occurred to me that Part 4 could include sets of statements based on these or a similar adapted list and a Likert Scale type of questionnaire, i.e. Strongly agree to strongly disagree.

 

 

The following section is about blogging and forum discussion.  Please read each statement carefully and indicate to what extent you agree or disagree using the folloiwng key:

 

strongly     disagree     neutral     agree     strongly

disagree                                                       agree

     1                  2               3              4              5

 

or

SA - Strongly agree

A   - Agree

N   - Neutral

D   - Disagree

SD - Strongly disagree

 

Example statements:                                                                                                    SA      A     N      D     SD

1. My firm is committed to achieving zero defect logistical performance                           O      O     O      O      O

2. My firm has different logistics service strategies for different customers                       O      O     O      O     O

3. The orientation of my firm has shifted from managing function to manaing processesO      O     O      O     O

 

OR with the SD, D, N, A, SA (denoting 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)                                                          SD     D     N     A     SA

1. My firm has increased inventoy turns during the past 5 years                                      O     O     O     O     O

For Relationships

                                        IMPORTANCE

(Please circle the number under the answer which is right for you) (or this could be done using survey monkey)

Important           Of Very          Of Some          Important          Very Important

Not to have     Little or No     Importance          To have               To have

this               Importance         To have              this                         this

                         this                    this

     1                     2                     3                      4                           5

 

Example statements:

1. Respect you

2. Are friendly

3. Are good at their jobs

4. Work together well

                                        SATISFACTION

Very                                           In Some                                       Very 

Dis-satisfied     Satisfied            ways Satisfied       Satisfied          Satisfied

                                               Some ways

                                               dissatisfied

     1                    2                         3                    4                         5

 

I found different researchers have been using different scales for their researches: such as 1 very dissatisfied to 5 very satisfied, OR 1 very satisfied to 5 very dissatisfied.  I think we need to be consistent throughout the questionnaire.

May I suggest to adopt a lower score such as 1 for very dissatisfied and a higher score of 5 for very satisfied?  We could use that to calculate the average satisfaction rating and the variance (or Standard Deviation) using those scores. Similar concepts could be applied to the importance ratings in the questionnaire.

 

For all questions - check if they are written in SIMPLE PLAIN CONCISE ENGLISH John 6/3/09

 

An alternative way of doing this would be two have two statements at each end of a continuum, e.g.[J2]

 

 

 

There was a greater sense of community between CCK08 forum participants

0

2.5

5.0

7.5

10

There was a greater sense of community between CCK08 bloggers

 

 

Participants would then mark their position on the continuum 

 

Or we could go for a Likert Scale, strongly agree to strongly disagree, using the following types of statements

 

 

Which of the following is your preferred tool of learning and communication in CCK08?. 

1. Blogging

2. Moodle discussion

3. No preference (Blogging/Moodle discussion of equal importance)

 

Or should we separate learning from communication? John 6/3/09

 

 

 

 

Experiences related to technology[J3]

 

• 2 Posting to the CCK08 Moodle[J4] forum required less effort than posting to a blog
• 3 Posting to the CCK08 Moodle forum enabled faster communication than posting to a blog
• 4 It was easier to follow a CCK08 Moodle forum thread than a blog conversation

 

Emotional significance[J5]

 

• 6 There was a greater sense of community between CCK08 Moodle forum participants than between CCK08 bloggers
• 7 There was less mutual respect between the CCK08 forum participants than between the CCK08 bloggers
• 8 Relationships between the CCK08 Moodle forum participants were stronger than between CCK08 bloggers
• 9 The CCK08 Moodle forum posts elicited stronger emotions than the CCK08 blog posts
• 10 Posting to the CCK09 Moodle forums generated greater feelings of excitement than posting to a CCK08 blog
• 11 Posting to the CCK08 Moodle forums generated greater feelings of anxiety than posting to a CCK08 blog

 

Relationships [J6]

 

• 13 It was easier to form relationships with other course participants in the CCK08 forums than in the CCK08 blogs

• 14 There was a greater sense of closeness between CCK08 forum participants than between CCK08 bloggers

• 15 It was harder to form relationships that lasted beyond the end of the[J7] course in the CCK08 forums than it was in the CCK08 blogs

•  

(Relationships/ connections between concepts in addition to those between people. Expected outcome M = moodler, B = blogger)

• 17 I find it more convenient in forums that all the relevant aspects and ideas are collected in one place. (M)
• 18 It's not very important for me that in forums, all the relevant aspects and ideas are collected in one place. (B)
• 19 I find it more convenient in forums that all the recently discussed aspects and ideas are quickly accessible. (M)
• 20 It's not very important for me that in forums, all the recently discussed aspects and ideas are quickly accessible. (B)

• 21I am excited when people bring lots of obviously related aspects to the table. (M)

• 22 I don't like musings about far-fetched associations and wonderings if they might be connected to the topic  at hand. (M)

• 23 I don't want to be distracted by ever more links. (M)

• 24 I am fascinated that forums discussions rapidly connect to more aspects while the previous aspects are still lively present in mind. (M)

• 25 When new aspects and ideas come up, I like to explore their source and author, and sometimes they resonate with me when I learn more about their background. (B)

 

I like these statements - they get at the learning process. Whilst doing this I am constantly referring to my book (Doing your research project . A Guide for first time researchers in Education and Social Science - by Judith Bell) which I used during my Masters degree. Under the chapter on questionnaires it warns against the following:

 

Ambiguity, imprecision and assumptions in question wording

Asking questions which rely on memory (which is unreliable!)

Questions which ask for informatin that the respondents may not know or have readily to hand

Double questions e.g. Do you attend maths and chemistry classes?

Leading questions, e.g. Do you agree that mature students should have the right to express their views in tutorials

Presuming questions, e.g. Does the university make adequate provision for counselling

Hypothetical questions, e.g. If you had no family responsibilities and plenty of money, what would you do with your life

Offensive questions or questions that cover sensitive issues

 

I think we have to beware of all these! Very difficult!

 

I agree Jenny with your points.  What a coincidence! I bought this book on Doing Your Research Project long time ago (the reprinted 1989 version).    I used that for my researches, especially in education.  I will re-read the book.  I will review our questions too!  I think this will take some more time.  John 5/3/09

 

Reflection

 

• 27 The CCK08 forum discussions were less reflective than the CCK08 blog discussions
• 28 The CCK08 forum discussions were so fast that they prohibited reflection
• 29 There was less time for reflection in CCK08 forum discussions than in the CCK08 blogs

 

Differing perspectives

 

31 I have found these statements difficult to complete so have posted as far as I have got. If you think this is workth pursuing, then I will carry on another day. It's very difficult to come up with statements that will give us valuable information. You both might be more successful. 

 

Autonomy

33 The CCK08 discussion forums were more teacher-controlled than the CCK08 blogs

34 There are fewer opportunities for self- expression

 

Dialogue

 

Still to do

 

Audience

 

36 Still to do

 

 

Cognitive style

 

36 Still to do

 

There might be other or alternative categories under which we could organise statements like this.

 

Whilst working on these statements, I wondered if it might be preferrable to make a long list of statements and ask respondents to select which ones apply to them. We could either separate these statements into 'Moodlers' and 'bloggers' as shown below, or we could just lump them all together and ask people to state there preference, i.e. for forums or blogs on the CCK08 course at the end of the list.

 

I preferred blogging to Moodle forum discussions on the CCK08 course because…. (please select the response that you agree with)

 

42 I was already familiar with blogging

43 The blogging community was more friendly

44 There was more mutual respect between CCK08 bloggers than in the Moodle forums

45 I was less likely to be criticised on my blog

46 I could avoid the ‘loud forum voices’

47 I felt less anxious when blogging than when posting to the Moodle forums

48 I was able to forge closer relationships in the blogging community

49 I did not feel connected to the Moodle forum participants

50 Blogging allowed me more control over my own learning

51 I had more control over the topics I wanted to explore.

52 I could work at my own pace

53 Blogging allowed me time for reflection

54 I liked the ‘slowness’ of blogging

55 I was able to able to be truer to my own thinking in my blog posts

56 I had more opportunities for self-expression in my blog

57 Blogging allowed me to have a voice on the CCK08 course

58 Writing for my blog gave me more pleasure than writing in the Moodle discussion forums

69 Blogging allowed me more personal space

60 Blogging allowed me had more ownership over my learning environment

61 Blogging allowed me more freedom in the choice of discussion topics to follow

62 Blogging allowed me more freedom in the choice of people to follow

63 I found it easier to understand the CCK08 blog posts than the Moodle forum posts

64 I didn’t feel comfortable in the Moodle forums

65 I didn’t feel I had anything to contribute to the Moodle forum discussions

66 I could not make my voice heard in the Moodle forum discussions

67 The CCk08 bloggers often provided summaries of the weekly topics and this helped my learning

 

 

If you have any additional comments you would like to make please type them in the box below.

 

 

 

 

I preferred communicating in the Moodle forums to blogging on the CCK08 course because…. (please select the response that you agree with)

 

69 I was already familiar with posting to discussion forums

70 The Moodle forum discussions were more accessible

71 Blogging requires more effort than I wanted to make

72 I enjoyed the fast pace of the Moodle forums

73 I enjoyed the challenging discussion that took place in the Moodle forums

74 There was more lively debate in the Moodle forums

75 I was able to connect with a greater number of people in the Moodle forums

76 I felt more of a sense of community in the Moodle forums

77 I had a greater number of readers in the Moodle forums than I would have had on a blog

78 I preferred the linear style of the Moodle forum discussions

79 The discussion in the forums was more substantive than in the blogs

80 There was more knowledge creation in the Moodle forums

81 I received more response to my posts in the Moodle forums

82 The quality of posts in the Moodle forums was higher than on the blogs

83 The discussion in the Moodle forums was more flexible

84 It was easier to follow the discussion threads in the Moodle forums

85 It was easier to track back and locate information in the Moodle forums

86 There were fewer personal posts in the Moodle forums

87 I felt more comfortable in the Moodle forums

88 I was able to establish a presence in the Moodle forums

89 I felt I had a voice in the Moodle forums

90 I was able to make a greater contributions to the Moodle forums

 

If you have any additional comments you would like to make please type them in the box below.

 

 

People choose to blog in preference to posting to discussion forums because

92 They are more personal

93 They are more distributed

94 (=33) They are less teacher-centric

95 (=46) ‘Loud’ voices who drown everyone out can be more easily side-stepped

96 (=45) There is less criticism

97 There are fewer disparaging comments

98 (cf 32) There is a greater sense of personal control

99 (=6) There is a greater sense of belonging to a community

100 (=53) There is more time for reflection

101 (=56) There are greater opportunities for self-expression

102 There is greater opportunity for self-assessment

103 (cf 48) Relationships are closer and deeper

104 There is more crafting of writing

105 (cf 44) There are higher levels of mutual trust and respect

106 There is less posturing and pontification

107 There is a greater sense of freedom

People choose to discuss in forums in preference to blogging because

109 (cf 69) They are familiar – the easy option

110 (cf 72) Communication is faster/rapid fire

111 (cf 76) People feel a greater sense of proximity to other forum posters

112 (=71) Forum posting is less effort than blogging

113 (=78) Forum posting is more linear than blogging

114 (=88?) There is a greater community presence in forums

115 (cf 83) Conversation is more flexible/diverse

116 There is more sparring/challenge

117 (=82) The quality of posts is higher

118 (cf 4) They are more like a conversation

119 (=85) You can find information more easily

120 (=81) You get more feedback

121 (cf 75) It is a more efficient way of making connections

122 (cf 86) There is less ‘navel gazing’

123 (cf 121) You are more likely to receive feedback on your opinions

124 It takes too long to get a blog up and running

 

 

(How do people like the "big picture" ?)

131. I like it when the author enumerates many aspects that guide me around the big picture in his mind. (M)

132. I don't want to be urged to follow the author through his linear assembly of digressions. (B)

133. I don't like to be distracted to off-topics scattered across various side branches. I need a "red thread". (M)

134. I like links leading to further aspects if they promise a rewarding digression when I actually click and explore them. (B)

 

141.(a)-(c), 142. (John's questions about Connection strengths) see Questionnaire Draft 5